Tuesday Thoughts about...

...my garden. Hmmm, it's still not exactly the way I want it. I visit all of these gorgeous botanical gardens and want mine to look the same. Somehow, it always falls short. I don't really know why. I have ideas and plans for next year. Here's what's going on this year.

I love Japanese painted ferns. I've had this one for about 22 years now.

We went quite awhile without bees. They've been back for a few years now. Butch got this shot.

This bog fern makes me happy. Butch found it at the bottom of the pond at the beginning of the season. It just looked like a pot of mud. He put it back on the ledge and soon it sprouted. Now I love it!

I have a hydrangea bush called either "never-ending" or "everlasting"---I can't remember which. It blooms pink, lavender and blue on the same bush. What you see here is all the blooms I got this year. We had a late freeze that messed up a lot of my plants.

Margarita surprised me by cutting some flowers from the garden. Shasta daisies and purple coneflowers along with Annabelle hydrangeas. They bloom white (see photo above) and turn green when they are past their prime. They actually dry very easily at this stage.

A wider view of the pond.

This is a hibiscus---new this year. Lots of buds.

I also love the purple foliage.

The blooms are pink with hot pink centers---about the size of a dessert plate. I call them one day flowers because you only get the bloom for one day. Luckily there are so many buds---we'll see how long it blooms. I think it's supposed to go until fall.

I'm not gonna' lie. I'd love it if a beautiful bird landed on my shoulder while I'm out in the garden. This was at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg last week on vacation. There were the most beautiful and colorful birds I've ever seen in the aviary. This particular one was trying to get my necklace.

My pots on the front porch have continually been attacked by the chipmunks.

I just love these---what I call---happy little surprises. I knew it wouldn't last long. It sprouted up this spring, but didn't last but about a week before it fried here.

Even in the best tended gardens, you might find poison ivy. We have a lot of poison ivy around here.

I love the Virginia sweetspire beneath the magnolias. It blooms in the spring and doesn't last very long, but I do love the feathery tendrils of the flowers.

As for the hose nozzle embedded in the tree---I have no idea how that happened. I don't think I did it---perhaps a previous owner. I just noticed it a couple years ago. It'll stay there now. I'm sure it would do more damage to remove it at this point.

My shade garden is full of hosts, impatiens, assorted ferns, bloodwort, lily of the valley and various others.

Foxgloves only bloom every other year. This was the year. I have it in my white garden.

Entrance to the shade garden from the front of the house.

I've already forgotten what this is called. Another early bloomer.

About 20 years ago when I planned my roses, I read that clematis was a good paring. I'm so glad I added them. I have another on the back porch that is spectacular when it is in bloom.

Stella d' oro day lilies. They come back in these pots and bloom most of the summer.

I really like sunloving lantana---especially the multi color plants. The plant itself has a terrible odor, so it doesn't make a good cut flower.

Pink tea roses.

Here's the clematis that's on the patio.

When we first moved here, I had lots of cleome in different colors. I lost it during one of our drouts. Next year, I plan to add white.

I've forgotten the name of this one too.

This plant distresses me. I've had it for at least 15 years, but it has never bloomed. It definitely loves the location---it's a climbing white hydrangea on the corner of my white garden. I guess it's a male plant.

Lilies of the valley---the blooms are are so cute, but a bit hard to see. They only bloom in the spring.

 I love white hydrangeas--plus, I read years ago that the white varieties do better in Nashville. This is a tree hydrangea. It is so full of blooms that you almost can't see the trunk at all. This is the prettiest it's ever been---an blooms continuously!

 On the other hand the Annabelle hydrangea here hardly bloomed at all this year.

 You can see the other tree hydrangea on the far side.

 They crepe myrtles are just starting to bloom. They'll go until frost.

 I want the garden behind the pool to be full of flowers. I'll keep adding until it is always full of blooms.

 The ferns are gorgeous. They take over and are good for sun, shade and drought!

 The pots on the patio are doing really well this year. I always fertilize when we plant.

Even though the chipmunks did a number on these planters, they seem to have rebounded pretty well.

So there you have it---a virtual stroll through my garden along with my thoughts on Tuesday!